almost there...!!

I present to you the chronology of events to get my thesis done!!

Registered in July 2006

Scholarship interview - Sept 2006

Awarded with scholarship - Nov 2006

Finished first part of project- Aug/Sept 2007

Finished second part of project- Nov 2007

Lab renovation - Dec 2007-June 2008 (slowed down my work)

GC problems/troubleshooting Dec 2007-Oct 2008 (due to poor management of equipments in the university. They should take note on that!)

Finished third part of project - Feb/Mar 2009

Abstract submission - Jun/Jul 2009

Thesis writing period - Feb 2009 - Dec 2009 (a period of 10 months)

Thesis submission - Jan 2010

Viva - 1st week of June 2010 (after 3-4 times getting postponed)

Forms completion (including format checking process) - 4th week of Jun 2010

Hard cover submission - final week of Jun 2010 (this coming Monday if all goes well)

I was living a zombie life for the last 15 months, juggling my time between work and thesis.

Details:

I only managed to get my abstract submitted in June or July 2009 (due to series of delay which was mostly contributed by my supervisor). This usually happen when your supervisor is having more than 10 master/phd students under her/his supervision -AND- when your supervisor is the faculty's deputy dean. Im not denying her kindness and concern for me, but she has a very very limited time to spare for me. I couldnt really blame her for the delay.

For a period of 8 months, I had to work from 9am-6pm, and write thesis from 8pm till morning (usually till 3-4am) before waking up few hours later to get ready for work.  My Prof never stopped motivating me to struggle for my last battle but I didnt tell her I was working so I had to double up my effort (in getting everything done) to make up for lost time which I had to spent at work. It has been so hard for me as I still have to work to sustain myself financially.  When i was at the edge of giving up, she told me, "Now, you submit your thesis. Don't wait. Just submit." She was afraid I might just throw away all the effort I have put in after I told her I got a job. A real job.

Thesis submitted. Due to a lot of delays, I only got my viva date after 6 months of waiting (normal waiting period is 2-3 months). Few minor corrections have to be done before I am allowed to submit my final copy which is the hard cover. I only have less than a month to get everything done to ensure myself a place for convocation this year. I managed to finish my corrections in less than a week and the correction was only approved after a rework. With much effort, it took me only about a week to get all signatures (a total of 7 signatures) for 4 or 5 different forms and this include the format checking process with one time of rework. I managed to get 7 sets of my final copy printed out the next day after getting the last signature. If everything goes well, I shall collect my hard cover from the printing shop on Monday afternoon, and submit on that day itself.

That was the amount of hard work I have to put in to complete the whole process of getting my Master. It has been a roller coaster ride and I would say that this is definitely a hard earned master for me.

So you think I am going to do my phd now? If locally, no way!! Even if I get the chance to do it overseas, it's not gonna be an easy decision to make.